Sayaka Miki
"Mami-san, my wish came true." "There's no way I would regret this." "I'm the happiest I could possibly be right now!" - Sayaka Miki, Episode 5. Sayaka Miki is a main character and Madoka's best friend. Like Madoka, she is also a second-year student at Mitakihara Middle School. Tomboyish, confident, and a little brash, she upholds a strong sense of justice and adopts a heroic attitude as a magical girl. General Info "I, magical girl Sayaka Miki, will protect the people of Mitakihara Town, until the very end!" - Sayaka Miki, Episode 5. * Madoka’s classmate and good friend. Energetic and lively, which is perhaps why her sword is the only melee weapon among the four. * Ms. Aoki’s Design Check!: Her personality is so boyish that I had to be careful not to make her look too boyish too. So I gave her hair a diagonal line in back, to straddle the line between short and medium length. * Magical girl outfit: Sayaka’s outfit is the closest to combat gear. Since her sword is a melee weapon, I paid attention to that while designing her clothes. (Aoki) ** Her outfit features diagonal-cut skirt and shoulderless top for ease of movement. Add a cape, and she’s a picturesque swordswoman. *Sayaka's height range, according to the Production Note, is 158-160cm. Her birthday, blood type and other biographical information is unknown at this time. *Sayaka has powerful regenerative abilities, she can heal herself much faster than any other magical girls. * Sayaka becomes a magical girl in Episode 4; Episode 5 details her debut as a magical girl, including the scene where she makes the contract with Kyubey. Personality Tomboyish, brave, idealistic, stubborn, self righteous, music lover, protective, devoted friend - for the most part - , wanting to be loved. History Sayaka in the Anime and Drama CDs *The "Sunny Day Life" Drama CD depicts Sayaka checking Hitomi's panties with dubious interest. Making her look like some sort of pervert. **Even Madoka knows this is wrong. Sayaka in Oriko Magica "Madoka, what are you planning to do when you get there? I have no idea why Homura is out there fighting, but...you can't do /a thing to help, right Madoka? You'd end up getting in her way. That's why...'Sayaka-san' is going in as backup." "We're friends, right? I can't just let her be." - Sayaka Miki, Puella Magi Oriko Magica, Chapter 7. *Sayaka is mentioned in Chapter 3. She does not appear until chapter 4, however. Sayaka is also protected by Homura so that she never gets contracted there. *Unlike the other timelines, she considers Homura as a friend, as she declared in chapter 7. *She helped Hitomi to escape from familiars' attacks from chapter 5-7, when Mitakihara Junior High is covered with a witch's barrier. Madoka reunites with them, and together, they go to help Homura. Sayaka in Kazumi Magica Sayaka's and Oktavia's silhouettes appeared once during Umika's explanation about Witches, as she says that witches are the end state of magical girls. Sayaka in Madoka Magica: The Different Story Sayaka acts more like a perfectionist than she did in other media. She often obsesses over the mistakes that she makes and is very conscious of other people's expectations. * In this manga, Sayaka tries to escape when Mami requests that she study magic to find witches efficiently. * It is shown that Sayaka can also heal others in this story. * Sayaka appears in the later part of chapter 4. In chapter 7, it is shown that Sayaka makes contract and prevents Mami from danger. * When Hitomi tells her that she will confess to Kyousuke, Sayaka's sense of responsibility as a magical girl prevents her from confess first. Again, she is unable to bear her own selfishness, especially when she didn't help Hitomi who was in witch's trap. * In chapter 8, Sayaka exhausted her magic and becomes a witch. According to Kyubey, she is too weak to gain any good when there are many more powerful magical girls. * In final chapter, Sayaka is revived by Madoka, who made the contract with Kyubey. Sayaka does not remember being transformed into a witch, just Madoka saved her from being killed by a witch. Before facing Walpurgis Night, Sayaka apologizes with Homura, saying she had misunderstood her actions and what the two want is to protect Madoka. Also, Sayaka says she owes Homura for saving her life once and she'll find a way to thank her. She is last seen facing Walpurgis Night before Homura restart time. Sayaka in the PSP Game *There is a Sayaka route in the game, which is different from the anime. The scenario is supervised by Gen Urobuchi who wrote the script for the anime series. But there are multiple different 'if' developments. There is a different 'Sayaka route', in which it is possible to prevent Sayaka from becoming a witch. She may fight with other magical girls. **It is possible to have a better ending, or to have a more cruel one than the anime, depending on the player's choices. *Kyoko can prevent Sayaka from becoming a witch. *In the Bonus Route, Sayaka has a confrontation with Hitomi about Kyousuke. After that, she confesses Kyosuke about her feelings and her identity as a Magical Girl. Sayaka in The Rebellion Story Homulilly's barrier Prior to the beginning of the movie, the Incubators trap Homura's Soul Gem in an Isolation Field that blocks out the Law of Cycles, causing a barrier to form within the Soul Gem. After Kyubey modifies the Field to allow the barrier to "invite" victims, Sayaka enters the barrier from the Law of Cycles along with Madoka and Nagisa Momoe. (Although the movie doesn't explicitly say this, Sayaka is essentially an angel for Madoka.) To prevent the Incubators from observing the Law of Cycles (which would give them the information they need to reinstate the witch system), Madoka entrusts her memories and powers to Sayaka and Nagisa. Homura's witch barrier is a false, idealized Mitakihara that alters the memories of the humans trapped in it. Sayaka is unaffected by the memory alterations (either due to being part of the Law of Cycles or because she was entrusted with Madoka's memories), but plays along in order to fool Kyubey. When the movie begins, Sayaka is once again a student at Mitakihara Middle School and fights alongside the other magical girls against Nightmares, monsters created by the barrier specifically to provide an enemy for the magical girls to fight. She is shown to be much closer to Kyoko, who is now Sayaka and Madoka's classmate; in fact Kyoko is staying at Sayaka's house. Although she is pretending to have her memories erased, Sayaka acts more well-adjusted than she did in the anime. It's implied she has memories of all of the previous timelines. When Hitomi gives birth to a Nightmare out of her frustration with Kyosuke, Sayaka jokes that Hitomi chose an insensitive boyfriend. After the Nightmare is defeated, Sayaka is the one who purifies Hitomi. When Homura begins to discover the truth of the barrier, she suspects Bebe, Nagisa's disguised form. This puts Homura into conflict with Mami, which ends with Homura incapacitated. Sayaka saves Homura and chides her for picking a fight with Mami and suspecting Bebe. When Homura tries to stop time Sayaka prevents it from happening by thrusting her sword into Homura's shield. She chides Homura again for relying too much on her time magic. Sayaka then discusses the nature of the barrier with Homura, causing Homura to realize the witch must be one of the five magical girls. Sayaka asks Homura if it's alright to kill someone that just wants a world where everyone can be happy. Instead of answering, Homura remembers that Sayaka shouldn't exist, and asks her who she is. Sayaka responds by saying that she's exactly who Homura thinks she is. Homura then sees Oktavia reflected in a puddle the girls are standing on, prompting her to attack Sayaka. Sayaka escapes, but tells Homura to think about whether she really wants to destroy the false Mitakihara, as it would be bad if Homura had any regrets. Eventually Homura realizes she is the witch and becomes Homulilly. Kyubey tells Madoka to reveal her true powers in order to save Homura, but Sayaka tells Madoka not to listen to him. She stabs herself in order to summon Oktavia and an army of familiars from other witches. The summoned familiars battle Homulilly's familiars, while Oktavia holds off Homulilly herself. The other magical girls either fight off Homulilly's familiars or attack the ceiling of the barrier, cracking it. During the battle, Sayaka is rescued by Kyoko and admits that she regretted abandoning Kyoko at the end of the anime. The two girls then fight off familiars together, and Oktavia even uses Kyoko's spear to punch another hole in Homulilly's barrier. Finally Madoka shatters the ceiling of the barrier and exposes Kyubey's Isolation Field. She reaches out to Homura's remaining Humanity, and together they destroy the Isolation Field from within. Once the barrier vanishes, Ultimate Madoka descends from the sky to retrieve Homura's Soul Gem. Sayaka and Nagisa descend alongside her in a carriage. However, Homura has been changed by her experience in the barrier and grabs Madoka before she can erase Homura's Soul Gem. Homura's actions tear apart reality and seperate Madoka from her goddess self. Sayaka is engulfed by colors that erupt from Homura's Soul Gem and spread across the universe. Akuma Homura's Universe "Even if you say that, I won’t forget this: you, Akemi Homura, have become a devil!" Now a self-proclaimed demon, Homura creates a new universe. For unknown reasons, Sayaka is the only one who retains her memories. Also, she can no longer return to the Law of Cycles. She confronts Homura, asking her why she stole a fragment of the Law of Cycles. Homura replied that she only stole Madoka's existence as a human. Homura says that as a demon, it's only appropriate she goes against god. Sayaka summons Oktavia again and asks Homura if she wants to destroy the universe. Homura says it's a fine idea once all the wraiths are destroyed, and when the time comes she'll gladly be their enemy. Homura then asks if Sayaka really can oppose her and claps her hands, causing Oktavia to vanish. Homura tells Sayaka that her memories are being altered. Sayaka says she remembers that she was somewhere else and part of something greater, but she can't remember what it felt like. Homura tells her to just let go and accept returning to her human life, but Sayaka says that although her memories are gone, there is one thing she will never forget: that Homura Akemi is a demon. Despite the threat, Homura says that they should at least pretend to be friends in front of Madoka. Homura vanishes, and Sayaka is greeted by Hitomi and Kyosuke. Even though she lost her memories, she says she feels really happy to be greeted by the two. Hitomi says that Sayaka is saying strange things, and Sayaka agrees with a laugh. A shot of Sayaka's hand reveals that her ring and Soul Gem mark are still present. However, the Runes displaying her name have vanished, indicating her powers are gone or sealed. At the end of the movie Sayaka is seen enjoying pocky with Kyoko, indicating they are still close in this new world. Trivia "I have made up my mind to become a type of magical girl different than you all. I have decided that I won't associate myself with those who use and abandon others. I don't need to be rewarded for my work. I'll never use magic for my own benefit." "I will die when I lose by witches. That's well, I'm not needed any more if I'm unable to defeat witches." - Sayaka Miki, Episode 8. *The first character in her last name (美) means "beauty". The last character (樹) means "tree". Her name could also be written (幹) "tree trunk" or (神酒) "sake offered to the gods." *Her last name can also be used as a first name. *Her first name is written in hiragana, which has no special meaning. The word sayaka (さやか【明か／清か, usually written in hiragana) can mean "clear", "fresh", or "bright" in Japanese. *The official Chinese translation uses (沙耶香) as the kanji for her name. The characters also have no particular meaning (沙 "sand" 耶 "question mark" 香 "fragrant") and are used mainly for their phonetic value in Japanese to represent the word sayaka as a name. No official kanji of her name exists in the original Japanese version. **One Chinese fan translation has her name as (爽), which means "fresh" or "bright". *She describes herself as having been born "petit bourgeois," which is French for "petty bourgeois." This would mean that her family is at least from the middle class, but is by no means from the upper class (despite the fact that, if Japan has even less living space in the future than it does now, her family's apartment is far larger than a normal middle-class family could afford). *Although her character design depicts her with a two-edged sword she is seen using a katana with a saber-like guard in the anime. The manga uses the sword from her original design. *According to recent interview, "Sayaka had her personality based on a 'Gen Urobuchi character'" **In episode 5, Madoka said she always act before thinking twice, and is easy to conflict with others. But on the other side, she is kind, courageous and willing to work hard for others. Homura commented her good side is fatal for a magical girl. Her kindness makes her ignorant, her courage makes her careless, and she'll get no return on her hard work for others. *When Sayaka transformed in the train in Episode 8, the fate of the two hosts was open to interpretation in the original scenario by Gen Urobuchi. While Shinbo has recently confirmed that Sayaka did not kill the two men in the anime, they were in fact killed in the manga version. **The train conversation scene between the two hosts is actually based on a real event that Gen Urobuchi witnessed. *Sayaka's sword has a scabbard but was never used in the anime. *Sayaka's hairpin disappears when she transforms into magical girl form. Gallery Category:Female Characters Category:Puella Magi Madoka Magica Category:Main Characters Category:Magical Girl Category:Characters